“This—” my hand finds the top of her head, the muscle memory familiar and warm, “—this is my friend, Eira.”
“Friend?Seren, what do you meanfriend?”
“Eira has always been part of me, even when I didn’t know it.”I peer down, her gaze finding mine as I give voice to her struggle.“After the war—after my demise—they imprisoned her here.They left her with nothing but the ghosts in her mind.”
“But…” He edges closer, his hand held high so his light can fully take her in.“You’re Seren.You aren’t Nyx.And even if sheisinside you, there is no mention of a wolfe in the scriptures.This…this makes no sense.”
“Kael,” I step closer, Eira mirroring my movement.“This is just one of the many lies your gods have fed your people.Eira has always been with me.She’s a part of me that was forgotten until the shrine awakened it.”My fingers tangle in her fur as I give voice to my thoughts.“Something has changed, The memories are blurring into one.”
“Seren.You’re Seren.”He steps forward, his arm falling as his light dims with his spirits.“This is not your life you’re recalling.You must see that?”His voice is gentle, pleading.
“I know.It’s hard to explain.But I feel as if I have two lives.The one I have now, and the one that came before.”
“The Seren I observed had only one friend,” he says, his voice breaking.“And that was her brother.”
I flinch as the words sting.“I know, I haven’t forgotten him.It’s just—” I tear my gaze away, looking out to the pool and the shadows circling above.“—this is bigger than him now.Forget it.You don’t understand.”
“I may not.But how are we going to escape with this…thingfollowing us?It will draw attention.”
My nostrils flare.Heat builds inside me as I stalk closer, stopping only when his warmth touches my skin.“She is not athing.And we will be fine—she is made of darkness.The shadows are where she will hide.”
Kael clears his throat and raises his arms, but offers no response.I roll my eyes, my attention returning to the shadows suspended in mid-air.Tendrils of black dangle above the glassy surface of the pool.The water lies like a curtain of spilled ink—motionless, a featureless expanse where no light can penetrate.A single tendril licks the surface, sending ripples streaming toward us.
“The shadows want me to go in,” I whisper.
Kael’s head whips toward me, his hair falling out of place and his glasses sliding down his nose.“You think that’s wise?After what happened in the last pool?”
I lift my shoulder in a fluid, easy motion.“I don’t think we have much of a choice.”Whatever waits down there isn’t trying to hurt me.It’s calling me home.I canfeelit.Eira whines beside me, her cold, damp nose poking my hand.My fingers caress the coarse fibres of her fur—a habit I hadn’t realised I missed until now.
“Fine.”Kael says, his voice light.“If something happens, I’m coming in to get you.”
“Fine.”I mimic.
Stone crunches underfoot as Eira escorts me to the pool’s edge.I pause, watching the shadows suspended in midair.I strain my neck, glancing toward the spot the tendril is pointing to; a soft, violet light begins pulsing.“It’s…glowing.”
“Just—be careful.We have no idea what’s hiding down there.”
I ruffle Eira’s fur.That invisible thread of energy connects us again, and along it, her thoughts begin to travel into mine:I can’t lose you again.Please, be careful.
“It’s okay girl.I’ll be okay.”I bend to kiss the top of her head, my forehead touching hers in a silent embrace.
My toe edges the lip of the pool.I break the glassy surface, but this time, the substance is liquid—not the viscous gel of the first shrine.I submerge slowly, my breath catching as the cold seeps in.Water engulfs me, stealing warmth from my body in a single, merciless moment.Every muscle clenches in protest.
The cold burns.A sharp pain that feels less like water and more like a thousand tiny needles piercing my skin.
I wade toward the source of the glow.The water climbs my chest, then my back.My teeth chatter, sending vibrations through my skull.I force myself to breathe, but the air comes in short, shallow bursts.All I can hear is the frantic drum of my heart—a wild, thumping rhythm that I’m certain Kael and Eira can hear, too.
Then the floor beneath me gives way.
My legs kick out into nothingness.My arms churn, but they only slap the surface, pushing me down rather than forward.I’m fighting, but I’m losing.The source of the glow is so near, yet it feels leagues away.
The sound of my gasping, wet breaths is loud—then it’s gone, replaced by the roar of the deep.
The cold consumes me, a heavy pressure wrapping around my bones.It steals my heat, and with it, my ability to think.It’s a numbing pressure that makes my hands and feet feel distant, unresponsive.
I can’t hold it any longer.The air bursts from my lungs in a stream of silver bubbles—a silent, final gasp rising away from me.Water floods in, a harsh, stinging sensation that replaces the burning in my chest with an overwhelming fullness.
I watch the violet light grow more distant; a beautiful, impossible promise.It’s peaceful down here, with only the silence for company.My vision blurs at the edges, until blackness consumes me.
